Front Office football Nine is here

[thefatcat]

BEN EDIT: Game documentation may be found here http://www.solecismic.com/documentation/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=start


NEW FEATURE LIST

New Features for Front Office Football Nine

Front Office Football Nine was built on an entirely new code base, designed for simulation speed, growth and flexibility. The list of new features is extensive:

An intuitive interface, redesigned from the moment you enter a new career. The emphasis is on clear, quick navigation to the information you want to see.
Flexible league sizes and structures. Front Office Football Nine ships with 17 different league configurations, ranging from nine teams to 32. Each configuration has a designated schedule rotation ensuring teams play a fair schedule each season. Franchises can be based in default cities or randomly assigned when you start a new universe.
Calendar-based actions. Each year has a month/day calendar, with important dates highlighted. A Team Management screen is always available, with links and descriptions of everything you can do for your team on that day. You can simulate to any date on the calendar (up to 10,000 days at a time).
Play-Calling Interface. A brand new full-screen play-calling interface allows you to call your team's plays during a game, make substitutions, view updated individual and team statistics.
Historical Quarterbacks. With any league, you have the option of including a selection of starting quarterbacks from the past. These quarterbacks are rated in far more detail than in a player file.
The "Video" Podcast. Each week, the league puts together an overview of all the games played, highlighting the most important plays.
Comprehensive weather system. Every day, the weather is calculated for each of the metropolitan areas modeled in the game. Each metropolitan area has a climate. You can "see" storm fronts move across countries.
Foreign franchises. Front Office Football models 1,171 metropolitan areas in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. Cities in 322 of these areas can host franchises.
Compensation Picks. Each season, teams will receive compensatory draft picks for free agents they lost the previous year.
Team and League Overview screens. Among nearly 200 screens in Front Office Football Nine are the new Team Overview and League Overview screens, which act as front pages for your universe.
Fan Allegiance. Each franchise has a fan base, based on the television markets defined in major metropolitan areas. Teams can improve their following by winning games and championships. Teams with a bigger fan base have a more valuable brand and earn more money each season.
Expanded Almanac. The Almanac contains leaderboards, award lists, sections for each franchise and for each season. It's a comprehensive and greatly expanded history of your universe.
Player Index. A searchable record of every player who has been drafted and/or has played in a game in your universe.
Milestones. A list of the greatest individual performances, plus season and career thresholds, tracked by date.
Game Books. An all-inclusive record of each game played during your universe, including a Game Flow that constantly tracks the likelihood a team wins a game and marks the most important plays of the game.
Game Recaps. For any game played in your universe, you can enter the recap and see all the play diagrams and updated statistics.
Modern New Statistics. For quarterbacks and receivers, the game tracks air yards and yards after catch. Learn who is really testing the defense. See how quarterbacks fare against the blitz. Learn which running backs have the highest percentage of successful runs.
Player Finances. Learn which players have the highest career earnings and sell the most jerseys. Players who are both stars on the field and popular with the fans sell more jerseys, which means more team revenue.
Injury Models. Players are rated for and can develop increase susceptibility to injuries in several areas of the body.
Revamped Chemistry. Chemistry is now defined only between quarterbacks and wide receivers. It's possible your new free agent star wideout simply doesn't work well with your quarterback.
Fifth-Year Contracts. Three years after the amateur draft, you'll have the opportunity to extend the contracts of players you drafted in the first round for a guaranteed fifth year.
New Defensive Play-Calling System. A more intuitive and expansive defensive play system based on setting up one of 16 pass coverages along with double-team, spy, blitzing choices. Those are only the highlights of all the new features in Front Office Football Nine. Thanks for considering the game.



Front Office Football: A Windows PC Football Simulation (http://www.solecismic.com/frontofficefootball.php).


Alas no MP by the looks of things.

[MIJB#19]

Well how about that!

[MizzouRah]

Exciting!!!

[SlyBelle1]

Very cool, can’t wait to learn the specific release date

[SegRat]

Looking for advice. I have an older MAC, 2015. I haven't played any games in a long time. However, I need to figure something out as I want to play the new game. What is the best option for my MAC? Im willing to pay for a program if it works well. I also see these steam decks, are they worth it?

Thanks for any tips.

[QuikSand]

fascinating

[tzach]

wow, that's exciting -- congratulations jim, this is a huge achievement


@segRat -- if you are willing to pay, Parallels is likely your best choice. Oracle Virtualbox is not bad either (i've run fof8 for over 3 yrs on that). lately i switched to amazon ec2 instance. the free tier is enough for running the game at an acceptable speed and it's free for 12 months.

[albionmoonlight]

Wow. Did not see this coming.

Exciting times!

[Ben E Lou]

Excellent!

[NawlinsFan]

Hopefully MP will be integrated once this is fielded and the bugs are tweaked.

[Ben E Lou]

Hopefully MP will be integrated once this is fielded and the bugs are tweaked. It certainly appears that MP would be a potential feature for FOF10 if it happens, but not for any update to FOF9.

faq [Front Office Football Nine Documentation] (http://www.solecismic.com/documentation/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=faq)

Can I join a multi-player league or play “hot-seat” with more than one team controlled?

Front Office Football Nine only allows control over one designated team, which doesn't change after a new universe is formed. Its possible future products will feature a multi-player option, but no control-changing mechanism was developed for Front Office Football Nine. Adding one, along with multi-player features designed to work with the game's database, would require several months. It's not something that could be considered for an update.

[NawlinsFan]

Thanks Ben, in my excitement I missed that.

[beatle]

It sounds like you can't do historical play in this game. No draft files allowed in this game. Not sure on the roster files. I really enjoyed the historical play in the series.

[INDalltheway]

Holy shit - just saw this on Steam!!! Great day!


From Steam:

• Front Office Football Nine was built on an entirely new code base, designed for simulation speed, growth and flexibility. The list of new features is extensive:

• An intuitive interface, redesigned from the moment you enter a new career. The emphasis is on clear, quick navigation to the information you want to see.

• Flexible league sizes and structures. Front Office Football Nine ships with 17 different league configurations, ranging from nine teams to 32. Each configuration has a designated schedule rotation ensuring teams play a fair schedule each season. Franchises can be based in default cities or randomly assigned when you start a new universe.

• Calendar-based actions. Each year has a month/day calendar, with important dates highlighted. A Team Management screen is always available, with links and descriptions of everything you can do for your team on that day. You can simulate to any date on the calendar (up to 10,000 days at a time).

• Play-Calling Interface. A brand new full-screen play-calling interface allows you to call your team's plays during a game, make substitutions, view updated individual and team statistics.

• Historical Quarterbacks. With any league, you have the option of including a selection of starting quarterbacks from the past. These quarterbacks are rated in far more detail than in a player file.

• The "Video" Podcast. Each week, the league puts together an overview of all the games played, highlighting the most important plays.

• Comprehensive weather system. Every day, the weather is calculated for each of the metropolitan areas modeled in the game. Each metropolitan area has a climate. You can "see" storm fronts move across countries.

• Foreign franchises. Front Office Football models 1,171 metropolitan areas in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. Cities in 322 of these areas can host franchises.

• Compensation Picks. Each season, teams will receive compensatory draft picks for free agents they lost the previous year.

• Team and League Overview screens. Among nearly 200 screens in Front Office Football Nine are the new Team Overview and League Overview screens, which act as front pages for your universe.

• Fan Allegiance. Each franchise has a fan base, based on the television markets defined in major metropolitan areas. Teams can improve their following by winning games and championships. Teams with a bigger fan base have a more valuable brand and earn more money each season.

• Expanded Almanac. The Almanac contains leaderboards, award lists, sections for each franchise and for each season. It's a comprehensive and greatly expanded history of your universe.

• Player Index. A searchable record of every player who has been drafted and/or has played in a game in your universe.

• Milestones. A list of the greatest individual performances, plus season and career thresholds, tracked by date.

• Game Books. An all-inclusive record of each game played during your universe, including a Game Flow that constantly tracks the likelihood a team wins a game and marks the most important plays of the game.

• Game Recaps. For any game played in your universe, you can enter the recap and see all the play diagrams and updated statistics.

• Modern New Statistics. For quarterbacks and receivers, the game tracks air yards and yards after catch. Learn who is really testing the defense. See how quarterbacks fare against the blitz. Learn which running backs have the highest percentage of successful runs.

• Player Finances. Learn which players have the highest career earnings and sell the most jerseys. Players who are both stars on the field and popular with the fans sell more jerseys, which means more team revenue.

• Injury Models. Players are rated for and can develop increase susceptibility to injuries in several areas of the body.

• Revamped Chemistry. Chemistry is now defined only between quarterbacks and wide receivers. It's possible your new free agent star wideout simply doesn't work well with your quarterback.

• Fifth-Year Contracts. Three years after the amateur draft, you'll have the opportunity to extend the contracts of players you drafted in the first round for a guaranteed fifth year.

• New Defensive Play-Calling System. A more intuitive and expansive defensive play system based on setting up one of 16 pass coverages along with double-team, spy, blitzing choices.

• Those are only the highlights of all the new features in Front Office Football Nine. Thanks for considering the game.

[LastWhiteSoxFanStanding]

Early observations based on the screenshots:

1. You can definitely see OOTP's influence on the UI.

2. Unfortunately, you can also definitely still see Jim's influence on the UI. Lots of empty space.

3. The main player page does not show the player's stats. You have to go to a different tab for that. Hopefully, a patch changes this. In my opinion, there is enough space on that page to include player stat's and I think it is best practice to have stats on the main player page.

4. Stats- On the team history page that tracks passing leaders, there are 8 seasons of over 4,000 yards passing out of 34 seasons. Two seasons over 4,800 yards. None over 5,000. Worth noting considering the controversy over passing yards in the previous version

5. The 2058 leaders screenshot includes individual league leader performances of 4,620 passing yards, 39 passing tds, 1950 rushing yards.Best team defense gives up 18.9 points per game.

6. The defensive changes look most promising and I am hopeful if deployed correctly, it is possible to create some monster defenses that give up around 14 points per game and really enforce their will on the other team.

Overall, super excited about this. Day one purchase for me.

[RD]

no multiplayer is a deal breaker for me.

[Mota]

Always a day 1 purchase. Welcome back, Jim!

[Kodos]

Congratulations on launching another iteration, Jim!

[Young Drachma]

I never thought I'd see the day. Congrats to Jim. Day 1 purchase for me.

[korme]

It sounds like you can't do historical play in this game. No draft files allowed in this game. Not sure on the roster files. I really enjoyed the historical play in the series.

Major bummer. At least he kept the historical clip art graphics.

[sovereignstar v2]

This is great news!

[tanner_the_taco]

Hopefully they will add the ability to import custom draft classes in a future update. Starting in the 80s and redoing NFL history was my favorite way to play FOF8.

[tald]

Great News!....I cannot wait!

[Dutch]

Pleasantly shocked! Jim Gindin is the master of the slow
roll.

Looking forward to this one, will buy immediately as always.

[dubb93]

Awesome news.

What popped out to me in the screenshots was the playoff bracket. That is not the NFL's current playoff bracket. I'm wondering if that is a sign of more customization than we are used to or if it is a sign that the game isn't necessarily interested in simulating the current day NFL.

[sovereignstar v2]

Awesome news.

What popped out to me in the screenshots was the playoff bracket. That is not the NFL's current playoff bracket. I'm wondering if that is a sign of more customization than we are used to or if it is a sign that the game isn't necessarily interested in simulating the current day NFL.

Probably one of the of the other "17 different league configurations" right?

[dubb93]

Probably one of the of the other "17 different league configurations" right?

Yup that would certainly cover it.

[Jops]

Early observations based on the screenshots:

1. You can definitely see OOTP's influence on the UI.

2. Unfortunately, you can also definitely still see Jim's influence on the UI. Lots of empty space.

3. The main player page does not show the player's stats. You have to go to a different tab for that. Hopefully, a patch changes this. In my opinion, there is enough space on that page to include player stat's and I think it is best practice to have stats on the main player page.

4. Stats- On the team history page that tracks passing leaders, there are 8 seasons of over 4,000 yards passing out of 34 seasons. Two seasons over 4,800 yards. None over 5,000. Worth noting considering the controversy over passing yards in the previous version

5. The 2058 leaders screenshot includes individual league leader performances of 4,620 passing yards, 39 passing tds, 1950 rushing yards.Best team defense gives up 18.9 points per game.

6. The defensive changes look most promising and I am hopeful if deployed correctly, it is possible to create some monster defenses that give up around 14 points per game and really enforce their will on the other team.

Overall, super excited about this. Day one purchase for me.
Read this earlier and on seeing the screenshots RE: 3, completely agree there is space to add the stats there, no need for the extra clicks really.

Overall though, incredibly excited after I thought FOF8 was the last

[NawlinsFan]

Also wondering if you start with a smaller league setting can you have an "expansion" ramping up to a larger setting later?

[Antmeister]

Oh damn.....had to come back to FOFC to comment and celebrate this. Realized I haven't been on here for a while. Freaking excited about this.

[Marmel]

Wow, what great news! Day 1 purchase as always. Congrats Jim!

[Edward64]

Congrats Jim.

[Ksyrup]

I think I missed this announcement about a dozen times since yesterday. Great news though - congrats Jim!

[Sweed]

Great news. :)

[SlyBelle1]

Noticed someone on Steam posted link to FOF9 documentation page, which you can see more details about features and such in the new game.

getting_started [Front Office Football Nine Documentation] (http://www.solecismic.com/documentation/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=getting_started)

[Gauss]

FOF has been out of my life for so long . . . looking forward to welcoming it back in!

[Capital]

Exciting news - thought this is a cruel joke at first.

Definitely came out of nowhere but a very pleasant surprise!

[cupofjoe]

Ha, I called it!

Reason I hope for FOF9 - Front Office Football Central (https://forums.operationsports.com/fofc/showthread.php?t=98772)

But please tell me the coach draft is gone. For some reason that’s the top of my wishlist

[xcom44dan]

Amazing news! The documentation is looking really exciting

[r00k]

Exciting for sure ... MP would be the icing on the cake!

[Fidatelo]

FOF has been out of my life for so long . . . looking forward to welcoming it back in!


+1! I can't remember the last version I played (maybe 6?) but it has been a loooooong time. I'm ready for 9!

[Noop]

Is Expansion in the game if we start with less than 32 teams?

[NawlinsFan]

Now that it has been listed on Steam are those that signed NDA's allowed to answer questions?


Example:

Does it allow for a league expansion once you create a "universe"? Say I start a 16 team league can I move up to a 24 team league after a few seasons? I read that the format has to have a positive number of teams and no more than 2 conferences of 4 divisions. Just didn't see anything regarding expansion. Did anyone try it during testing? (I doubt it.)



I know, impatient. I just need the damn game to be released.

[dubb93]

How do we get the word out to those who are in the target audience but have stopped showing up to FOFC? I feel like I need FOF9 to be successful so we get FOF10 with multiplayer. Any ideas?

[thefatcat]

How do we get the word out to those who are in the target audience but have stopped showing up to FOFC? I feel like I need FOF9 to be successful so we get FOF10 with multiplayer. Any ideas?


Didn't the MP world really push to get Jim on Steam. Kind of feels like we've been forgotten about after helping big time.

[Edward64]

How do we get the word out to those who are in the target audience but have stopped showing up to FOFC? I feel like I need FOF9 to be successful so we get FOF10 with multiplayer. Any ideas?

Yeah, I've been thinking about that also.

Is there a way to do a mass email of FOFC posters? Maybe anyone that has posted in the past 2-4 years?

Also, I'd think actively using reddit would be better for more visibility than here. We'd lose a lot of historical stuff, but better for Jim and the game.

[cupofjoe]

How do we get the word out to those who are in the target audience but have stopped showing up to FOFC? I feel like I need FOF9 to be successful so we get FOF10 with multiplayer. Any ideas?

It’s challenging because there’s a newer college football sim which is actually really good (Football Coach: College Dynasty). I’ve used it to fill my FOF void but I’m very excited for FOF9. Hopefully the players of that game have an itch for an NFL game

[HansMellman]

Yeah, I've been thinking about that also.

Is there a way to do a mass email of FOFC posters? Maybe anyone that has posted in the past 2-4 years?

Also, I'd think actively using reddit would be better for more visibility than here. We'd lose a lot of historical stuff, but better for Jim and the game.

I was going to say I know that in the past the guys from Franchise Hockey Manager have sought permission and posted a launch Q+A/AMA in the r/NHL and I know that DumbMatter of BasketballGM (as well as several other GM games) has done the same in r/NBA - this is a great way to garner a huge amount of eyes on the game.

I'm not sure if anyone has a presence in the NFL subreddit or contact with Jim in order to formulate something of that sort? It could help to redirect some old eyes and draw in a ton more of new eyes. Just an idea.

[Edward64]

TBH I was thinking of Blocked (https://www.reddit.com/r/FrontOfficeFootball/) (see r/frontofficefootball)

No surprise that sub is dead right now. But once the game comes out, we can try grow that community by actively participating with Q&A, tips, dynasty reports etc. (instead of using FOFC here).

Arguably it may be better for us to do this in Steam Discussions vs reddit. But Steam is for people that have already found FOF9. Reddit is for people that may be looking or just doing general searches.

[HansMellman]

TBH I was thinking of Blocked (https://www.reddit.com/r/FrontOfficeFootball/) (see r/frontofficefootball)

No surprise that sub is dead right now. But once the game comes out, we can try grow that community by actively participating with Q&A, tips, dynasty reports etc. (instead of using FOFC here).

Arguably it may be better for us to do this in Steam Discussions vs reddit. But Steam is for people that have already found FOF9. Reddit is for people that may be looking or just doing general searches.

Yeah the subreddit is dead, occasionally questions crop up in there which I try to answer and I know of one other person from the MP community who contributes plus a few straggler posts but I can't see anyone finding that sub or caring about it who doesn't already know about the game.

Sorry, I was referencing this subreddit which also seems to exist for the game for some reason - https://www.reddit.com/r/Front_Office_Football/

[Edward64]

Hah, didn’t know that one existed.

As Duncan McLeod said “there can only be one!”

[GrantDawg]

I didn't know either existed. This is the one I knew of: Blocked (https://www.reddit.com/r/FOFC/)

[Bonegavel]

Crawling out of the woodwork to say I can't wait to purchase. I miss this board.

[SirBlurton]

Big if true....

All seriousness, incredibly excited to see this.

[cmp]

Just got the email saying this was coming out! Hadn’t been here in a while but had to come back. Can’t wait!

[fortheglory]

This is great news but unfortunately without a Mac version I won’t be picking this up. I know there was supposed to be one when FOF was under the Out of the Park Developments umbrella, but I guess that’s no longer the case.

[Ushikawa]

I joined both reddits, never post normally there but would be an easy switch

I wont be able to get deep into it for a bit but should be fun

[Joe]

Pretty surprised to see this announcement hit my email box! Will have to check it out but a touch disappointed to hear no multiplayer.

[sovereignstar v2]

Reddit needs to die a slow death after the crap they pulled over the summer

[antdroid]

Been a while since I've checked back in to here, but awesome news! Can't wait to try the new version out!

[3ric]

Wow.

[Icy]

Great news! Too bad about not multiplayer as it was really fun in old versions or are we having at least that option to send files etc as in the past?

Btw another interesting Reddit for sports GM games in general: Blocked (https://reddit.com/r/gmgames/)

[sovereignstar v2]

https://i.imgflip.com/82foqj.jpg

https://media1.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTc5MGI3NjExOHhpb3prbGlvZ2NwdGd1MGx1NmZiajFsYWR3NWY4aGcwZ2VxaWxsbyZlcD12MV9pbnRlcm5hbF9naWZfYnlfaWQmY3Q9Zw/cCalRsU3yKZoQILEEI/giphy.gif

[Eaglesfan27]

Awesome news. Look forward to purchasing today!

[Fidatelo]

Awesome news. Look forward to purchasing today!


It comes out today?! This is first I've heard a specific date and not just "this month".

[jaygr]

Thank you for sending out the email from the Forums. I would have missed this otherwise.

[Ben E Lou]

It comes out today?! This is first I've heard a specific date and not just "this month".
I'm not seeing any official announcement of this.

[HansMellman]

I'm not seeing any official announcement of this.

I think people have mistaken the mailshot of it's existence for a release announcement.

[Yoda]

I'll purchase it if only to support Jim. Not sure I'll play it with no multiplayer options.

[HansMellman]

I'll purchase it if only to support Jim. Not sure I'll play it with no multiplayer options.

I think I'm in the same boat - I'll mess around with it but since joining FOF MP it's not just killed my desire for FOF SP but for all sports sim SP really.

[Sweed]

I'm looking forward to seeing how the game does in SP with this new release. When OOTP let FOF go, I thought, there was a substantial(?) amount of under the hood coding that went with Jim, with mostly GUI work left to do? Maybe that's totally wrong? IDK. My hope is some of that code included upgrading roster management AI? We'll see. ;)

[fortheglory]

I'm looking forward to seeing how the game does in SP with this new release. When OOTP let FOF go, I thought, there was a substantial(?) amount of under the hood coding that went with Jim, with mostly GUI work left to do? Maybe that's totally wrong? IDK. My hope is some of that code included upgrading roster management AI? We'll see. ;)

Yes...this is the case. That's why I was hoping for a Mac version but no luck. OOTPD was going to release a Mac version also. Jim kept pretty much all of the code from the project according to what Markus had said.

[beatle]

Can you create your own rosters in this Game via CSV files? The game info says no to importing draft files. The info on roster files is elusive. It appears you may, but documentation does not really go into it. As a historical player, I would like to know if you can create an NFL roster file, for example the year 1976, and how to do that in the format/file type that is needed to complete the process.

[BradS]

Hot diggity damn! Eight hit the sweet spot, this can only be better. Hours played equals four times any other game on Steam. Wishing Jim much future success.

[BKL]

Great news! When will it be released?!?!?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[cupofjoe]

Yes...this is the case. That's why I was hoping for a Mac version but no luck. OOTPD was going to release a Mac version also. Jim kept pretty much all of the code from the project according to what Markus had said.


Jim has made it pretty clear he doesn't plan to ever have a mac release, which is unfortunate.

[Carman Bulldog]

Great news! When will it be released?!?!?

Steam website says October 2023. I don't think Jim would have provided that date if it wasn't ready to go. So anticipate sometime over the next two weeks or so.

[Olsson]

Possibility for player portraits woohoo.

Also.. A bunch of small things like mock drafts, more detailed combine, injuries, suspension for hits etc :-)

Thanks Jim!

[fortheglory]

Jim has made it pretty clear he doesn't plan to ever have a mac release, which is unfortunate.

This wasn’t the case when OOTPD was going to publish the game. Obviously things are now different, so I’m not surprised as it was OOTP who wanted to do a Mac version…probably not Jim.

[Dutch]

I’m excited about a lot in this version, but mostly the CLEAN interface. Looks fantastic!

[dave1927p]

This is a happy day for me to see this news! Wish i could create the cfl and the nfl in the same game world, but other than that the added features list I’m very excited for. Can’t wait for the release!

Wonder if there will be a save game editor available at some point.

[dubb93]

Some questions answered on Steam:

Yes, it's still me. This is not the OOTP version completed. I had to start over. It's a combination of about four different things, plus a lot of new development.

As for what happened with the no, not a gambling thing, the contract had funding benchmarks and they weren't reached and so we figured a way back out of it. All it amounted to was lost time in the end.

Far too much lost time. After that, I started looking into doing it myself again,

[rkmsuf]

get on with it. enough with the grab ass. pick a date. if not the impression is it sucks.

[sovereignstar v2]

get on with it. enough with the grab ass. pick a date. if not the impression is it sucks.

you know, we're living in a society!

[Sweed]

get on with it. enough with the grab ass. pick a date. if not the impression is it sucks.

Hope you're not holding your breath. Per Jim on Steam in a thread about the release date..


Solecismic *[developer] Oct 16 @ 2:29pm*
****
Steam has a waiting period. After that, I can just press a button as long as there's a release build in there. I don't have an answer yet because... life. Sorry. As always, it will be released when it's ready. Hopefully this month. If not, I will try and get sympathy points by explaining why.]

[MIJB#19]

Hope you're not holding your breath. Per Jim on Steam in a thread about the release date..Yeah, I was about to point that out. Patience, for just a little bit longer.

[QuikSand]

get on with it. enough with the grab ass. pick a date. if not the impression is it sucks.

welcome back, by the way

[Ksyrup]

Man, I didn't realize Jim was so strong that he could overturn enough boulders to unearth so many old-timers!

[Meatwad]

Yes...this is the case. That's why I was hoping for a Mac version but no luck. OOTPD was going to release a Mac version also. Jim kept pretty much all of the code from the project according to what Markus had said.

I imagine a Windows VM or Crossover will allow it to run on a Mac. It shouldn't be too taxing graphically.

with Apple releasing a compiler that will allow Windows games to be compiled for the Mac at a touch of a button, with no work, there is little reason not to see vendors release Mac games. Unless they just don't want to support Macs. See the blurb below:

Porting your Windows game to the Mac is now faster than ever. This year, the new Game Porting Toolkit provides an emulation environment to run your existing, unmodified Windows game, and you can use it to quickly understand the graphics feature usage and performance potential of your game when running on a Mac.

[Tasan]

I found the notification for this in my spam and had to get here and actually post to say this is a very pleasant surprise. I may actually have to hang around here again with all you bums.

[james17]

Holy freakin' cow!!!


I just happened to stumble onto this on Steam. Great great news and congrats and thanks to Jim! Will buy it on day one. Comes at a great time for me. I was so tired of OOTP Baseball and couldn't believe that so much time had passed without a good new football sim. I can't wait to play it and will buy it if for no other reason than to support Jim.

[Lonnie]

Looking forward to it. Haven't been here in forever.

[james17]

Its even got a real user manual with hyperlinks! Woohoo!!!

[EagleFan]

Now, about TCY 2... :-)

[Senator]

Well …. Our journey continues.

[HansMellman]

Now, about TCY 2... :-)

Now THAT would be something..

[cupofjoe]

Now, about TCY 2... :-)


I never played TCY, but there's a very good college game on the market right now that's early access. Even though it's not a finished product once, it's incredible.



That would be tough competition for Jim, unless he can find a way to connect TCY with FOF.

[Stanley92]

It sounds like you can't do historical play in this game. No draft files allowed in this game. Not sure on the roster files. I really enjoyed the historical play in the series.

WHAT ???
This killed the joy I felt when seeing this announcement.

This was one of the GREAT things with the game.
This got to be added with the possibilty to play with an old historical startdate.

Those old FAF files was precious to add when playing FOF8 from 2002. I edited that old starting file to it's full extent over the years and only wished one could have added even more players than those +2000 some players for the start.

PLEASE PLEASE make something to make this happen

[DeToxRox]

Hopefully this will be at least somewhat compatible with the Steamdeck.

[EagleFan]

I never played TCY, but there's a very good college game on the market right now that's early access. Even though it's not a finished product once, it's incredible.



That would be tough competition for Jim, unless he can find a way to connect TCY with FOF.

The original TCY was importable draft classes for FOF so I would think any new version would be the same.

[Olsson]

The release date has changed from October 2023 to coming soon. Let’s hope that’s a good thing!

[Cole]

The release date has changed from October 2023 to coming soon. Let’s hope that’s a good thing!

Hmm, hopefully. But based on Jim’s earlier comment that he’d run into delays because of life and that October wasn’t a guarantee + radio silence from dev/testers, I’m more inclined to think it may not arrive this month.

[Solecismic]

I've been unable to work for a couple of weeks now. Sorry. Hopefully, I can get back to it soon and we can start the countdown again.

[Cole]

Thanks for the update. Hope you’re back on your feet soon.

[cupofjoe]

I've been unable to work for a couple of weeks now. Sorry. Hopefully, I can get back to it soon and we can start the countdown again.




It's all good. I'm sure we're all just thrilled that there will even be a FOF9

[MizzouRah]

It's all good. I'm sure we're all just thrilled that there will even be a FOF9

This

[Olsson]

Appreciate the update, Jim!

[NawlinsFan]

I've been unable to work for a couple of weeks now. Sorry. Hopefully, I can get back to it soon and we can start the countdown again.

Family, health and life first. We are impatiently being patient and appreciate what you are doing.

[RD]

I've been unable to work for a couple of weeks now. Sorry. Hopefully, I can get back to it soon and we can start the countdown again.

Countdown to multiplayer?

[Dutch]

I've been unable to work for a couple of weeks now. Sorry. Hopefully, I can get back to it soon and we can start the countdown again.

I’m sorry to hear you’ve been going through a rough patch. I hope you’re okay.

[perez24]

I've been unable to work for a couple of weeks now. Sorry. Hopefully, I can get back to it soon and we can start the countdown again.

Hope you feel better. You'll get it done when you get it done and it'll be great.

[Solecismic]

It sounds like you can't do historical play in this game. No draft files allowed in this game. Not sure on the roster files. I really enjoyed the historical play in the series.

That was one of two features cut from the original plan. It's a new database and I had a few ideas for how to do it, but hadn't really designed it.

As such, I had intended to revisit this as having patch potential, though I hate releasing a product that I don't consider finished. Without it, there's no way to start a non-32-team standard league with pre-defined rosters, either.

Because of the weird timeline issues regarding releasing a product on Steam and because I seem to be able to work for a few days, I think it's going to make it back into the product. We'll see how it goes before I'm out of it again.

Since I mentioned it, the other feature I dropped was practice squads. Since those players can always be signed by any other team and it's somewhat political and FOF doesn't really have a practice module, I don't think it has a lot of value for the amount of time it would take to write an AI for it.

What that piece would need to be meaningful is a scouting system that changes weekly. Players are under constant evaluation in real life. Without a realistic practice module, all that is from a simulation aspect is random numbers. Doesn't seem like a lot of fun. I think of my job sometimes as determining how to present a simulation with as few mindlessly random numbers as possible.

[rkmsuf]

as an owner of the original cd I wish you well.

[AgustusM]

As another every version since v1 guy - this is just such surprising and outstanding news. Now, the first thing I did was make sure the post date wasn’t April first just to be sure. Can’t wait

[james17]

That was one of two features cut from the original plan. It's a new database and I had a few ideas for how to do it, but hadn't really designed it.

As such, I had intended to revisit this as having patch potential, though I hate releasing a product that I don't consider finished. Without it, there's no way to start a non-32-team standard league with pre-defined rosters, either.

Because of the weird timeline issues regarding releasing a product on Steam and because I seem to be able to work for a few days, I think it's going to make it back into the product. We'll see how it goes before I'm out of it again.

Since I mentioned it, the other feature I dropped was practice squads. Since those players can always be signed by any other team and it's somewhat political and FOF doesn't really have a practice module, I don't think it has a lot of value for the amount of time it would take to write an AI for it.

What that piece would need to be meaningful is a scouting system that changes weekly. Players are under constant evaluation in real life. Without a realistic practice module, all that is from a simulation aspect is random numbers. Doesn't seem like a lot of fun. I think of my job sometimes as determining how to present a simulation with as few mindlessly random numbers as possible.


Really hope you're feeling better. Am so glad you have decided to develop this product!


I don't think practice squads are an imperative either. Like you said, other teams can always sign one of the players on it.


One other neat feature you're adding that I really like is that of compensation for free agents. Thanks much for the added realism of that.

[Mota]

Jim, if you would like some help on the PR side, I would gladly help out. I work in video game publishing and have done some dabbling in PR recently. I know you hate that part of the business.

[NawlinsFan]

Although I appreciate the poaching and ratings concerns I think the one thing the practice squad would add that I would appreciate is having the ability to reach in and pull a player should an active one become seriously injured and required to miss a few weeks. Depending on how you structure your roster it may prevent you from having to instead offer a contract to an FA in order to meet any roster depth requirements. In order to do this now you "may" have to cut one in order to add one where needed.


Just thinking out loud.

[beatle]

Jim, I think it is great that you are considering allowing the import of draft and roster files for historical seasons! You made my day. Hope things get better for you. As someone said, health comes first. The game will come out when you are able and ready. The less stress the better!

[cupofjoe]

Jim, can you give any insight if the hiring of coaches is different? Or is it the same coach draft?

[Jukeman]

Although I appreciate the poaching and ratings concerns I think the one thing the practice squad would add that I would appreciate is having the ability to reach in and pull a player should an active one become seriously injured and required to miss a few weeks. Depending on how you structure your roster it may prevent you from having to instead offer a contract to an FA in order to meet any roster depth requirements. In order to do this now you "may" have to cut one in order to add one where needed.


Just thinking out loud.

I agree with this 100%, Especially as an Eagles fan who utilizes the practice squad to its full usability (Reed Blankenship, Morrow, etc). There isn't a practice module in the game, cool. But how bout a reserve?

Related. One of the things that I disliked about the older games was the lack of expanded rosters in the preseason.

[conception]

I agree with this 100%, Especially as an Eagles fan who utilizes the practice squad to its full usability (Reed Blankenship, Morrow, etc). There isn't a practice module in the game, cool. But how bout a reserve?

Related. One of the things that I disliked about the older games was the lack of expanded rosters in the preseason.


I'm with you. I really hate the lack of a reserve in case of injuries.


If you have reserves, injuries can feel like an opportunity. But when there isn't really a reserve system injuries can just be a bummer.

[sovereignstar v2]

Staff hiring is discussed here -- http://www.solecismic.com/documentation/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=timeline&s

"The next day is Staff Retention Deadline. You can resign staff members to new contracts. They will tell you how much money they require. If you allow a staff member's contract to expire, you may lose him to another team.

The following five days are the time period for signing new staff members. The first day is head coach day, followed by offensive coordinator day, then defensive coordinator day, then assistant coach day and finally strength coach day. Some teams may sign new coaches earlier in the day than you can. This is based on your franchise's financial performance during the previous year."

[Cole]

Staff hiring is discussed here -- timeline [Front Office Football Nine Documentation] (http://www.solecismic.com/documentation/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=timeline&s)

"The next day is Staff Retention Deadline. You can resign staff members to new contracts. They will tell you how much money they require. If you allow a staff member's contract to expire, you may lose him to another team.

The following five days are the time period for signing new staff members. The first day is head coach day, followed by offensive coordinator day, then defensive coordinator day, then assistant coach day and finally strength coach day. Some teams may sign new coaches earlier in the day than you can. This is based on your franchise's financial performance during the previous year."

It’s discussed, but doesn’t exactly indicate how it’s different or exactly how it works. It’s a shame the NDA isn’t yet lifted, as PR/communications has never been Jim’s forte, but I’m sure many of the testers are extremely passionate and could provide great info/answer questions if allowed.

[HansMellman]

It’s discussed, but doesn’t exactly indicate how it’s different or exactly how it works. It’s a shame the NDA isn’t yet lifted, as PR/communications has never been Jim’s forte, but I’m sure many of the testers are extremely passionate and could provide great info/answer questions if allowed.

To me this just sounds like the staff draft but spread over multiple days - as the staff draft is ordered on financial performance too.

[NawlinsFan]

Staff hiring is discussed here -- timeline [Front Office Football Nine Documentation] (http://www.solecismic.com/documentation/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=timeline&s)

"The next day is Staff Retention Deadline. You can resign staff members to new contracts. They will tell you how much money they require. If you allow a staff member's contract to expire, you may lose him to another team.

The following five days are the time period for signing new staff members. The first day is head coach day, followed by offensive coordinator day, then defensive coordinator day, then assistant coach day and finally strength coach day. Some teams may sign new coaches earlier in the day than you can. This is based on your franchise's financial performance during the previous year."


Would love comp picks should you have a key coaching position poached. Don't expect it but it would add to the game and decision process.

[kingnebwsu]

Congrats on this, Jim! It's fun reading this thread & a lot of names from the past. It's like rejoining a group of old friends from 20+ years ago. It's kind of surreal.

I don't get to play text sims much anymore but I will definitely be buying to support Jim & his efforts.

Good luck!

[Senator]

Sort of amped to try the play calling feature. It’s hard to duplicate this in games because it’s so frustrating in real life, people lose patience. If you like chess, you probably like the ability to play call.
Historical QBs is also a fun feature I think I will enjoy. I know many people don’t care about historical names ect., but it does spark my immersive imagination in a really fun way.

[Chas in Cinti]

While I'm hyped a new game is coming... walking through these posts and seeing SO many names from SO long ago is pretty fun... countdown to the first Quik dynasty starts at release... and we're not going to be as lenient as we are with Jim... :D

[dave1927p]

Got used to looking past the unrealistic portion of thr coach draft and tried to focus on the end result instead, but I hope it’s gone. It was always a bandaid solution due to lack of time to do properly.

[Solecismic]

I like it. It's one real reward you can have for successfully running your franchise and building your brand - a place coaches want to coach.

I don't appreciate comments like "lack of time to do it properly." That implies that I don't have the personal integrity to do my job well. If you don't like it, fine. But don't make it personal.

[james17]

I always liked it too. Hard for me to really see what his problem with it is.


By the way, I'm really glad to see the addition of the fifth year option for 1st round picks.

[AlexB]

Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in…

Had parked FOFC for a while now, but saw a post on Reddit about FOF9 bring delayed, and here we go again!

Looking forward to it Jim, whenever you are ready to complete

[cupofjoe]

I always liked it too. Hard for me to really see what his problem with it is.


By the way, I'm really glad to see the addition of the fifth year option for 1st round picks.


I definitely don't agree with the "lack of time" accusation. I appreciate Jim and FOF, it's by far the best NFL sim game. He obviously puts in a ton of time into the game.


The only reason I don't like the staff draft is that almost everything else in the game is how the NFL operates. Jim is even adding more things to make it more realistic. The staff draft is nothing like the NFL and it brings some of the reality out of it.


However, it's not a dealbreaker for me at all, it's just my opinion. I still love the game.

[dave1927p]

I like it. It's one real reward you can have for successfully running your franchise and building your brand - a place coaches want to coach.

I don't appreciate comments like "lack of time to do it properly." That implies that I don't have the personal integrity to do my job well. If you don't like it, fine. But don't make it personal.

With all due respect, it's nothing personal. I'm sure you have alot of things you'd like to add in one day (at least i hope over the next 20 years), and all things need to be prioritized accordingly as you see fit...that's why games have various versions and releases. I'm a bit taken back why my comment can be perceived so negatively - I meant it felt like a bandaid solution strictly because its not realistic yet ends with realistic results so it would be a lower priority. I understand the end result and rewarding teams getting the best coaches, but there is not an NFL draft for coaches in the NFL was my only point - i view coaches moving teams more similar to free agency IRL (perhaps in stages) vs a draft. This has nothing to do with integrity or judgement, just immersion and realism.

The realism and depth in FOF8 is why i've spent over 3500 hours into it...one of my favorite games. More and more additions to the game replicate the realism of the NFL so one would assume (perhaps incorrectly?) that the NFL coach draft would one day see some adjustments.

[NawlinsFan]

Regarding the coaching draft, I'm not for it but will also admit that whatever Jim does I will enjoy the hell out of. Now, that being said, instead of a draft having a, let's say, 3-4 round staff hiring phase that resembles free agency could be interesting. You have competing bids as the GM and that money spent impacts your annual revenue stream and therefore your overall rating.



Now, hopefully the game will be posted soon so we can all stop the what ifs and get on with enjoying it!

[Sverngold]

I was pleasantly shocked, will be a day one purchase. Hopefully MP comes soon.

[dave1927p]

Regarding the coaching draft, I'm not for it but will also admit that whatever Jim does I will enjoy the hell out of. Now, that being said, instead of a draft having a, let's say, 3-4 round staff hiring phase that resembles free agency could be interesting. You have competing bids as the GM and that money spent impacts your annual revenue stream and therefore your overall rating.



Now, hopefully the game will be posted soon so we can all stop the what ifs and get on with enjoying it!

Yup i'm ready to enjoy the new version too. It could only have an updated interface and i'd be a very happy customer.

[OldGiants]

Fantastic news!

[EagleFan]

Halloween treat?

[Stanley92]

That was one of two features cut from the original plan. It's a new database and I had a few ideas for how to do it, but hadn't really designed it.

As such, I had intended to revisit this as having patch potential, though I hate releasing a product that I don't consider finished. Without it, there's no way to start a non-32-team standard league with pre-defined rosters, either.

Because of the weird timeline issues regarding releasing a product on Steam and because I seem to be able to work for a few days, I think it's going to make it back into the product. We'll see how it goes before I'm out of it again.

Since I mentioned it, the other feature I dropped was practice squads. Since those players can always be signed by any other team and it's somewhat political and FOF doesn't really have a practice module, I don't think it has a lot of value for the amount of time it would take to write an AI for it.

What that piece would need to be meaningful is a scouting system that changes weekly. Players are under constant evaluation in real life. Without a realistic practice module, all that is from a simulation aspect is random numbers. Doesn't seem like a lot of fun. I think of my job sometimes as determining how to present a simulation with as few mindlessly random numbers as possible.

Happy to hear you considering to have a shot at playing historical with proper drafts over the years.
Sad you struggle with sickness. Hope you pull our of it.

I noticed on another thread some writing about some player csv files in the game. Assume that might be something on this.
Lots of hard work for modders to transfer the old files from FOF8, but it will enhance the game.

There is hope, if not already in the release but soon in a patch perhaps.

[zums]

This thread is awesome. I feel like that 15 year old kid having my mom order the first game by phone all over again. Now I'm 40 and havent spent much time around these parts lately, but seeing all these old user names pop up... lot of memories and nostalgia flooding back. Can't wait to purchase this. Thanks, Jim.